Kinsale is car-azy for 190 cars at Cannonball event

THE famous Cannonball charity run arrived into Kinsale last Friday when spectators got up close and personal with 190 of the finest cars in the world. 

Now in its ninth year, the event has raised almost €900,000 for Irish charities and this year the proceeds go the Make-a-Wish Foundation in Ireland.  

The stunning cars included beauties from McLaren, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Porsche, Maserati, Rolls Royce and Bentley. 

VIP guests included twins Hassan and Hussein (7) Benhaffaf from Carrigtwohill who enjoyed looking at the sports cars which were lined up in the town centre.

The brothers, who were co-joined at birth but underwent a major separation operation some time later, spent a wonderful afternoon admiring all the cars and crazy Cannonballers last Friday afternoon. 

 The gleaming convoy, worth an estimated €32m, drove through almost 1,000km of Irish open roads.  Almost half of the entries came from outside Ireland and this year an exciting team with 10 supercars travelled from Dubai.  

Cannonball is the brainchild of Kildare businessman Alan Bannon and the benefit to the Irish economy of this event is estimated at €2.5m per year.  With two national awards and four nominations this year, this Supercar event is now gearing up for the US in October and Japan in 2019. 

‘We were very proud to meet Hassan and Hussein and they are truely inspirational young boys,’ said Alan. ‘We love to have fun and bring a big show to all of the towns and cities we visit with Cannonball by putting a smile on the faces of children, and boys like Hassan and Hussein is really what Cannonball is all about.’